Jan 22, 1999: Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two minor sons Philip and Timothy burnt to death by a crowd while asleep in their station wagon at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district of Orissa.

Jan 29, 1999: The government of India issues a notification under Section 3 of the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952 setting up a judicial commission of inquiry to be headed by Justice D P Wadhwa, a judge of the Supreme Court.